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Saturday, October 20, 2007

Day 1 of no rain

The reason I started keeping statistics at the top of each blog post is because I saw it as the best way to quantify my "training" for future reference. Since this whole blog is the story of how my bikes make me feel ad nauseum, I figured tracking my mileage, monthly mileage, temperature and rainfall would help me draw patterns and answer questions: So why did I feel that way? How can I avoid it (or recreate it)? Ect.

But my system is I'm afraid fundamentally flawed. As impossible as it it to truly track a ride, the spartan way in which I'm going about it is a travesty of misinformation. Take today and yesterday, for example. Compared to yesterday's 37 degrees, today's 37 degrees felt like a subtropical sunbake on a summer afternoon. Compared to yesterday's 17.9 miles, today's 63.4 miles felt like an after-dinner spin around a suburban park. Compared to yesterday's 1.4 inches of rain, today's 0" of rain felt like the literal hand of mercy punched a hole in the sky and released a blast of goodness and light.

As reluctant as I am to stop tracking my mileage, there's just no way for me to display to true night and day, the yin and yang, the evil and good of yesterday and today. There are no words, no symbols, no numbers to depict the truth. So I will accept the fact that I have no real record to look back on, and I will ride my bike as I did today, without agenda or struggle, knowing that the pattern is bound to smile at me, once in a while.

I found your blog from my friend Danielle's blog site. I have been reading it for a while and have to tell you how much I enjoy reading it. Your writing is enjoyable and captivating and the photos are amazing. Which by the way, the pictures now have my wife demanding that I take her to Alaska soon. So maybe the pictures aren't so great! Anyway, keep up all of the bad ass riding and writing. Thanks for the enjoyable reads.

I normally track my riding by time instead of by miles. I think it is better gauge of effort since a mile on a mountain bike is the same as on the road. Telling someone that you rode 20 hours last week though doesn't get the same reaction as telling them you rode 330 miles. It's even better to tell them you rode 540 miles over the weekend or 2,000 miles in 8 days.

I do this with my polar HRM, I know the trail riding is often more power and strength where road riding is more long-slow-distance/endurance. The miles are different, so keep track of them separately... I would recommend not stopping, I enjoy seeing what you are doing every month and so do other readers, I'm sure...

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